Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth."

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Cessationism and Consistent Confessionalism

There has been an ongoing challenge throughout the history of
the church to the sufficiency of Scripture from those who crave extra-Biblical
experiences. As Solomon puts it, “there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecc 1:9).

In the early church there was a movement known as Montanism
led by a charismatic self-proclaimed prophet named Montanus. His followers considered themselves “the
enlightened ones.” Eusebius records it
was boasted that Montanus was “the Paraclete” and that two women of his sect named
Priscilla and Maximilla were “the prophetesses of Montanus.” Eusebius’ own assessment was that they were “like
poisonous reptiles” (see E. H.,
V.xiv).

In medieval times there were the self-proclaimed mystics.

During the Reformation period, Luther was opposed by a group
of men known as “the Zwickau prophets” who claimed to be led by visions and
dreams. In an encounter with Luther,
they pleaded, “The Spirit, Dr. Luther! The
Spirit!” To which Luther replied, “I
slap your spirit on the snout!” [as cited in J. P. Thackway, “Lessons from the
Charismatic Movement” Bible League
Quarterly (No. 467, Oct-Dec 2016):
p. 451].

In the post-Reformation period men like John Bunyan and John
Owen opposed the excesses of the Society of Friends or the “Quakers,” as they
were called for their frenzied movements while supposedly seized by the Spirit. Before there were the “holy rollers” there
were the Quakers and the Shakers!

In our own day, we have the modern charismatic movement, whose
influence is widely felt even in conservative and evangelical churches,
especially through so-called “third wave” worship music. “Contemporary” worship has become the norm
and churches guided by the Regulative Principle the exception to the rule. Many have embraced soteriological Calvinism, claim
to be “Reformed,” but say they are “open yet cautious” to charismatic
expressions. They do not grasp, however,
the fundamental contradiction in this kind of stance, given the closing words
of chapter one "Of the Holy Scriptures" in the confession: “which maketh the Holy
Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God’s revealing his will
unto his people being now ceased.” Clearly
the confession takes a cessationist position. Mixing continuationism with Reformed theology is like mixing oil and
water. You cannot be confessional and
continuationist. The framers of the
confession clearly saw cessationism as essential to the defense of the
sufficiency and necessity of Scripture.